Some folks leave quietly; others go with both middle fingers flying. Put Jennifer Kent, director of the state Department of Health Care Services, in the latter group. I should say former director, as Kent recently announced she was leaving her post. And as the Los Angeles Times reports, her resignation came the day after she made a Facebook post referring to folks protesting a controversial vaccination bill as “flat earthers” and bemoaning that the iconic Golden Bear statue outside the governor’s office was “dripping with unvaccinated booger-eater germs.” And to be sure you got the point, she hashtagged it with “#believeinscience and “#vaccinateyourgodd*mnkids.” The editing in the last sentence was mine because our filters are real and they work. Hers apparently do not.
Things at the California Capitol have been anything but peaceful of late, with controversial legislation dealing with the gig economy, rent control and vaccinations ensuring that folks on all sides have made their presence felt every day. Loudly felt. So it was a nice respite on Tuesday when a very different group arrived, one where every member was genuinely happy to see anyone and everyone that approached. One even gave this reporter a big hug! I’m not normally a big touchy-feely guy, but this time it was totally okay. Because the group was the American Kennel Club, and the advocates they brought were all of the four-legged variety with names like Auggie (who happily gave out the hugs), Coco and Zazzle. Now I’m proposing a new rule: from this day forward, any group that wants to invade the Capitol for ANY reason must be accompanied by dogs.
The CALIFORNIA Senate gives final approval to SB 330, which would temporarily ban cities from imposing a moratorium on new housing construction, prohibit the changing of local zoning laws to outlaw denser housing like apartment buildings and bar cities from raising fees during the development approval process. The bill moves to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for consideration (CALMATTERS).
NEW YORK CITY Mayor Bill de Blasio proposes legislation to provide health insurance for the survivors of all city employees who die from 9/11-related illnesses. Current city law only ensures city health coverage for the survivors of police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians who die from 9/11 sicknesses in active service or after retirement. At least 16 of the Council’s 51 members publicly expressed support for the proposal (NEW YORK TIMES).
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
A federal judge in NORTH DAKOTA blocks a state law enacted earlier this year that required physicians to tell women they may reverse a so-called medication abortion if they have second thoughts. State officials are weighing an appeal (NEW YORK TIMES).
The CALIFORNIA Senate gives final approval to SB 313, which would ban circuses from using bears, tigers, elephants, monkeys or other wild animals in their acts. The bill moves to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for consideration (LOS ANGELES TIMES).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly gives final approval to AB 1215, which would impose a three-year ban on law enforcement’s use of facial recognition programs in officer body cameras. The measure moves to Gov. Newsom (LEXISNEXIS STSTE NET).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly gives final approval to AB 589, which makes it a crime for an employer to confiscate a worker’s immigration documents as a way to force them into labor. The measure, which also requires employers to post notice of workers’ rights, moves to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for consideration (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signs two vaccine-related measures: SB 276, which would allow the state to investigate doctors who grant more than five medical vaccine exemptions in a single year, and SB 714, which allows a medical exemption granted before Jan. 1, 2020 to remain in place until the exempted child enrolls in the next grade span (LOS ANGELES TIMES).
The MICHIGAN House approves a trio of sexual assault-related bills: HBs 4372 and 4373, which together would revoke the licenses of doctors convicted of sexual assault, and HB 4378, which would ban disclosure of the names of people filing civil actions alleging sexual misconduct under public records laws. The measures all move to the Senate (MICHIGAN DAILY).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly gives final approval to AB 342, which would bar new oil and gas wells in national parks and other protected areas in the Golden State. It moves to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who is expected to sign it into law (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly gives final approval to AB 44, which would make the Golden State the first to ban the sale of fur items made from undomesticated animals. The measure moves to Gov. Newsom for consideration (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signs SB 76, legislation that bars oil and gas drilling in the waters off the Granit State coast. The measure also bars the building of any on-shore infrastructure intended to aid in such exploration (FOSTERS)
CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signs SB 419, which permanently prohibits willful defiance suspensions in grades four and five and bans such suspensions in grades six through eight for five years. The measure takes effect on July 1, 2020 (SACRAMENTO BEE).
The CALIFORNIA Legislature gives final approval to AB 61, which would expand the state’s “red flag” law to allow teachers, school administrators and employers to petition the courts to take guns away from people they see as a danger to themselves or the public. The measure heads to Gov. Newsom for consideration (LOS ANGELES TIMES).
The CALIFORNIA Senate gives final approval to SB 206, which would allow college athletes to be paid for the use of their name, image and likeness. The measure moves to Gov. Newsom for consideration (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signs SB 4166, which requires Empire State public schools to observe a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day every 9/11 to encourage dialogue and education about the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. (NEW YORK POST).
The sponsor of CALIFORNIA SB 51, a bill that would allow banks and credit unions to do limited business with legal cannabis companies, pulls the measure before it can come up for a vote, turning it into a two-year bill that will be reintroduced next year (SACRAMENTO BEE).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signs SB 271, which expands unemployment benefits, state disability insurance and family leave benefits for Golden State film crews whose jobs take them to other states. The law takes effect in January (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly gives final approval to AB 5, a bill that would codify a state Supreme Court ruling that imposes a strict three-part standard for determining if workers are employees or independent contractors. The measure moves to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who has indicated both that he will sign it (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly gives final approval to AB 1482, a rent control measure that will cap annual rent increases to 5 percent plus inflation. Tenants will also receive legal protections from being evicted without just cause. The measure moves to Gov. Newsom, who helped negotiate the bill and has said he will sign it into law. It will go into effect on Jan 1 2020 (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
VIRGINIA Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said he would work with University of Virginia James Ryan to end the widespread practice of aggressively pursuing former patients for unpaid medical bills. A recent investigation by Kaiser Health News revealed that that UVA sued former patients for unpaid bills more than 36,000 times over a six year period. Those suits sought repayment of over $106 million, often pushing families into bankruptcy. (KAISER HEALTH NEWS, WASHINGTON POST)
NEW JERSEY Gov. Phil Murphy (D) issued Executive Order No 83, which directs the state Division of Purchase and Property to request from gun retailers and manufacturers proof they are adhering to the order’s public safety stipulations, such as preventing “sales to prohibited individuals,” safeguarding ammo and firearms from being stolen and providing proper training to vendors. (FOX BUSINESS, NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S OFFICE)
A dozen Democratic governors signed a letter to President Donald Trump urging federal action on gun control, saying “a patchwork of state laws will never be a substitute for coherent national policy.” The letter urged the president and Congress to endorse a national “red flag” law aimed at preventing high-risk individuals from obtaining weapons, as well as banning high-capacity ammunition magazines and assault-style weapons. The letter was signed by governors from CALIFORNIA, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN, NEW JERSEY, NEW MEXICO, NEW YORK, OREGON, PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND, and WASHINGTON. (HARTFORD COURANT, NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S OFFICE)
MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) announced last week that the Bay State would invest $6.7 million in capital funding into nine projects focused on imaging, cancer, neuroscience and drug discovery research. Baker also hinted that he would introduce legislation furthering efforts to create a statewide digital health record database. (STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE [BOSTON], MASSLIVE)
A task force created by NEW MEXICO Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) suggested last week that the state license and regulate private companies to grow and sell recreational marijuana, rather than having the state operate and control those operations. Cities would retain power over issues like zoning and the number of stores allowed in a given area. Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis, who heads the working group, called the proposal “a compromise between letting experts regulate the industry and letting cities decide how they’re going to operate.” The group will make its official presentation to Lujan Grisham in October. (LAS CRUCES SUN NEWS, DURANGO HERALD)
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) warned lawmakers planning another attempt at legalizing industrial hemp that a new bill will meet the same fate as this year’s bill: a veto.
In her veto statement for HB 1191 last March, Noem said “There is no question in my mind that normalizing hemp, like legalizing marijuana, is part of a larger strategy to undermine enforcement of the drug laws and make legalized marijuana inevitable.”
Noem contends that police do not have the testing capability to discern between marijuana and industrial hemp, which looks like weed but has only 0.3 percent THC, not enough to get anyone high. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week, she called hemp legalization “a social experiment” that is bound to “end poorly.”
After failing by just a few votes to override this year’s veto, House Majority Leader Lee Qualm (R), head of the Legislature’s Industrial Hemp Study Committee, said legislators will have a new hemp bill ready for next session and are currently working to gain the votes to override another veto. (SIOUX FALLS ARGUS LEADER, REUTERS, WALL STREET JOURNAL, MARIJUANA BUSINESS DAILY)
Calling the rise in vaping-related illnesses “a frightening public health phenomenon,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) proposed legislation to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in the Empire State.
“Common sense says if you do not know what you are smoking, don’t smoke it, and right now we don’t know what you are smoking in a lot of these vaping substances,” Cuomo said in announcing the proposal.
The governor said he has ordered the New York Department of Health to open an investigation into vaping companies to ascertain what is in the chemicals they sell to vapers. The agency will also require smoke shops to “post a warning that lets people know that this is a risky activity.”
Cuomo’s proposal comes in the wake of an announcement from U.S health officials that at least 450 people across 33 states have recently become seriously ill after vaping.
New York could become the second state to ban the flavored e-cigarettes. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) issued an executive order instituting “an all-out ban” on the products on September 4. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) also issued an executive order (EO No. 84) last week to create a vaping task force to develop recommendations on future vaping policies in the Garden State.
Vaping has jumped dramatically in popularity among high schoolers in recent years, with as many as 21 percent saying they had tried it according to a report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That number marks a 10 percent increase from the previous year.
The governors and other advocates for curbing flavored vaping products got a huge boost last week when President Donald Trump said his administration will also work to implement a federal ban.
“Vaping has become a very big business, as I understand it, but we can’t allow people to get sick and allow our youth to be so affected,” Trump said.
“The Trump Administration is making it clear that we intend to clear the market of flavored e-cigarettes to reverse the deeply concerning epidemic of youth e-cigarette use that is impacting children, families, schools and communities,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “We will not stand idly by as these products become an on-ramp to combustible cigarettes or nicotine addiction for a generation of youth.” (U.S. FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION, NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, CBS NEWS, NPR)
Republican Dan Bishop defeated Democrat Dan McCready 50.7 percent to 48.7 percent in a special election last week in NORTH CAROLINA's 9th Congressional District. The election, which was called due to allegations of fraud in the race for the seat last year, was closely watched as a referendum on President Trump, who campaigned on Bishop’s behalf. (NBC NEWS)
A push for legislation next year to reform COLORADO’s recall process is coming from both sides of the aisle. A state representative, three state senators, including Senate President Leroy Garcia, and Gov. Jared Polis, all Democrats, have been targeted by recall efforts this year. (COLORADO SUN [DENVER])
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling this year in Rucho v. Common Cause slammed the door on partisan gerrymandering claims under the U.S. Constitution. In his opinion for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts maintained that it wasn’t possible for federal judges to determine “when political gerrymandering has gone too far.”
But in her dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan pointed out that plenty of lower courts had done precisely that, by employing a three-part test. First, they asked whether the party that drew the map had sought to solidify its power by diluting votes for its opponents. Next, they asked whether the effort was successful. And then, they asked whether there was any valid, nonpartisan reason for that effort. If the answers to the first two questions were affirmative and the answer to the third question was negative, the map was thrown out.
The notion that Kagan’s dissent might serve as a blueprint for state judges to crack down on partisan gerrymandering with their own constitutions was borne out by the ruling from a North Carolina court this month declaring a Republican-drawn state legislative map an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. That decision relied on the very three-part test Kagan described. (SLATE, REUTERS)
Just over a week after legislative district maps drawn by North Carolina’s GOP-controlled General Assembly were declared unconstitutional by a judicial panel, there was more political controversy in the state last week over a budget veto override in the House.
The state has been operating without a full budget since July 1. In June Gov. Roy Cooper (D) vetoed the spending plan approved by lawmakers because it failed to expand Medicaid. And Republicans have lacked the votes for an override in either chamber, until last Wednesday, Sept. 11, when most Democrats weren’t in the House chamber, evidently believing there would be no vote session that day because a Republican House leader had told them so.
House Speaker Tim Moore (R) took the opportunity to call for an override vote on the budget, which, without significant Democratic opposition, passed 55-9 in the 120-member chamber.
Rep. Deb Butler, one of the few Democrats in the chamber at the time, grabbed a microphone and laid into Moore.
“How dare you do this, Mr. Speaker!” she said. “If this is the way you think democracy works, shame on you. This is not appropriate and you know it. The people of North Carolina, you will answer to the people of North Carolina.”
Cooper, who had been attending a 9/11 memorial when the override vote took place, also blasted Republican leadership at a news conference later in the day.
“On a day when tragedy united our country, we should be standing together despite party,” he said. “But instead Republicans pulled their most deceptive stunt yet.”
The GOP leader the Dems said told them there would be no votes denied having done so. And Moore said his action should have come as no surprise to anyone.
“I’ve made it clear,” he said. “I’ve said right here from where I am, on the floor, everywhere, if I see an opportunity to override this budget, this veto, I was going to take that vote.”
The budget still requires an override in the Senate to pass, although Republicans only need the support of one of that chamber’s 21 Democrats to reach the supermajority necessary.
But the vote in the House, which Bulter called “scorched earth politics,” may have longer-lasting effects.
“If we can’t trust each other, this place will fall apart, it’s just too big an entity to run, too many processes to require for everything to be in writing,” said Rep. Darren Jackson, Democratic leader of the House. (NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER, NBC NEWS)
NEW JERSEY Gov. Phil Murphy’s (D) decision to phase in a reduction in the public pension system’s expected rate of return from 7.6 percent to 7 percent, which former Gov. Chris Christie (R) made just before he left office in 2018, could leave the state with a $6.6 billion pension payment in 2022, a $1.2 billion increase from 2021. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D) said that fiscal hit could force a tax increase. (NJ.COM, NORTHJERSEY.COM)
A cyber thief or thieves stole $4.2 million from the OKLAHOMA Law Enforcement Retirement System (OLERS), a pension fund for retired state troopers, park rangers and other law enforcement officers. OLERS reported that no benefits of members or their beneficiaries were impacted and that the FBI was working on getting back the missing funds, $477,000 of which had already been recovered. (OKLAHOMAN [OKLAHOMA CITY])
A constitutional amendment proposed for FLORIDA’s November 2020 ballot that would ban the possession of assault weapons could cost the state $26.9 million in tax revenue from gun sales, according to economists. But the head of the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research said more than half of that loss would be offset by “redirected spending,” and the impact of the weapons ban on the state’s roughly $90 billion budget would be “minimal.” (ORLANDO SENTINEL)
WYOMING lawmakers exploring the possibility of storing spent nuclear fuel rods in the state as a way of generating revenue learned this month that the move would only net the state an additional $10 million a year from the federal government. Lawmakers said that sum raised serious doubts about the idea’s viability. (CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE)
Last week the City Council of Austin, TEXAS approved an amended budget for next year that sets aside $150,000 to pay the travel, lodging, childcare and other incidental expenses of women seeking abortions. The city’s action came just days after a new state law (SB 22) went into effect barring state and local governments from giving taxpayer dollars to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. (TEXAS TRIBUNE [AUSTIN])
The attorneys general of every state but Alabama and California have officially launched an antitrust investigation of Google.
Standing on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court along with officials from 11 other states and the District of Columbia last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said the tech giant “dominates all aspects of advertising on the Internet and searching on the Internet.”
“They dominate the buyer side, the seller side, the auction side and the video side with YouTube,” he said.
Paxton stressed that for now the states weren’t undertaking a lawsuit but an investigation, the initial focus of which would be Google’s online advertising. The company is expected to do $48 billion in U.S. digital ad sales this year and claim 75 percent of total U.S. search-ad spending, according to eMarketer.
The state AG’s investigation comes over six years after federal regulators concluded an antitrust investigation into Google’s search and advertising practices, which resulted in no major penalties being imposed on the company. However, the European Union has levied $9 billion in competition-related fines on the company in the last three years. (WASHINGTON POST, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO)
New Jersey senators who convened a hearing this month to try to figure out what’s wrong with the state’s scandal-ridden business tax incentive program -- which expired at the end of June and Gov. Phil Murphy (D) refused to extend last month -- got an earful from the experts who gave testimony.
T.J. Bartik, a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, told the special Senate Committee on Economic Growth Strategies that incentives rarely pay for themselves.
“Probably at least 90 percent of any increase in tax revenue due to inducing job creation are offset by increased public service costs, as new jobs will attract population who will require more spending on infrastructure, education, police and fire services, and other public services,” he said.
Jackson Brainerd, a policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, told the committee that few states evaluate their incentive programs regularly, and such programs may actually do more harm than good.
“There is no evidence the number of economic tax incentives bear any relation to the broader performance of a state’s economy,” he said. “And there is quite a bit of evidence that tax incentives often fail to achieve their stated goals and can have a negative impact on a state’s fiscal health.”
Michael Lahr, director of Rutgers Economic Advisory Service, meanwhile, told the committee that taxes aren’t “as critical as other cost items to businesses.”
“The costs of labor, logistics, and space are much more important,” he said. “Items like energy costs and taxes are lower on the list.”
Still Lahr noted that as the auction Amazon held to determine the location of its second U.S. headquarters demonstrated, “firms select a general region in which they wish to locate based on gross criteria like supply chains and markets and then, after, select among jurisdictions within that region that present lowest costs.”
“We need to keep up with the Jones’,” he said. (NJ.COM, INSIDER NJ [VERONA])
At least 18 states allow sports betting either in-person at casinos and other gambling facilities, or online via computer or mobile phone, according to the website BettingUSA.com. Eleven of those states allow both, while six allow only in-person sports wagering and one, Tennessee, allows such betting only online.
There was a time when, if you weren’t in Las Vegas and you wanted to put some money down on a football game – say $100 that the Rams would cover the spread on Sunday – you needed to talk to a bookie. So, you picked up your phone.
That bookie – maybe a guy who looked a little like Walter Matthau, wore a hat and smoked a cigar – isn’t really a part of the scene anymore. But Americans are still putting lots of money down on sports, and more of them seemingly every month are doing it legally, with more than 15 states now having voted to allow some sort of sports betting.
And those bettors are still using their phones.
Only now, instead of calling Walter Matthau, they are using apps on their phones to place online bets. It’s a phenomenon that is transforming the landscape of legislating and regulating sports betting, just a little over a year after it became legal at all.
Judging by early figures on how much sports books are making from online betting, they won’t be going back to the old way any time soon.
As more states join those where bettors can now or will soon be able to wager on sports, the question of where and how they can do it may mean the difference between getting or not getting the support of some entrenched gambling interests. Casinos and racetracks looked forward to benefitting from running sportsbooks – bringing in sports bettors can lead to revenue throughout the facilities. But some see a world where people mostly bet online as a threat.
New Jersey is at the forefront of the new American gambling craze. The Garden State pushed to legalize sports betting when it was barred by federal law and saw its push through to the U.S. Supreme Court. Having done so, it naturally was at the leading edge as the first states started to enact laws to allow sports wagering after the high court said last year that they could.
Now it’s a money leader. In May of this year, for the first time, New Jersey sports books brought in more money (“handle” in gambling parlance) than the longstanding establishments in Nevada, where sports bets have been legal for years.
But you won’t necessarily find huge crowds of sports bettors on the casino floors of Atlantic City or at the Meadowlands Racetrack. The handle at brick-and-mortar sports betting sites in New Jersey isn’t keeping up with the enormous amounts being bet online.
In July, a stunning 85 percent of money bet on sports in New Jersey was wagered not in person at casino or track-based sports books, but online. Pennsylvania saw a similar trend, with 65 percent of the handle in the Keystone State bet online.
“We can see the beginnings of a boom that has been held back by a market that has been slow to mature,” Jessica Welman, a sports betting analyst for industry group PlayPennsylvania.com, said in a statement touting the market’s growth.
But that boom may leave some casinos and tracks behind.
In New Jersey, online betting companies must have physical sportsbooks inside a casino or racetrack. But industry observers say a couple of big online gaming companies are dominating the market. Those players, DraftKings and FanDuel, accounted for nearly 80 percent of New Jersey’s mobile betting market in May, according to gaming research firm Eilers & Krejcik figures cited by a report in SportsTechie.
Casinos partnering with those online companies may do OK despite never seeing bettors in person, but everyone else is left trying to catch up. And that, according to some reports, is leaving the gaming industry less enthusiastic about online betting.
While New Jersey and Pennsylvania are the poster states for online sports betting, Illinois may have set a precedent with how it moved to stifle the online sports betting operators in favor of old-style gaming industry companies when it passed legislation this past spring that will soon allow wagering there.
The new Illinois law will allow online-only sportsbooks eventually. But lawmakers in Springfield crafted a bill that will give the brick-and-mortar sites a head start on taking bets, delaying online companies from offering wagering for more than a year. It also is limiting online betting licenses. The move was aimed, at least in part, at DraftKings and FanDuel.
In New Jersey, there’s speculation that online sports betting revenue could one day equal the revenue from casino gambling.
At a gaming forum in June in New Jersey, a casino executive said that while online sportsbooks may be paired with casino licensees in some states, it’s not as much of a win for traditional gaming companies if bettors don’t ever come to the casinos.
“Laws should be crafted to drive people to facilities for sports betting,” said the executive, David Cordish, chairman of the Cordish Co., which is building a casino in Philadelphia.
Several states that have legalized sports betting only allow physical sports books. The biggest of those is New York, which legalized wagering in June, but only at four upstate casinos, hours by car from New York City. They started taking bets in July.
The situation in North Carolina is similar. It will soon allow sports betting only in person at two casinos, both hours from the state’s two largest population centers, Charlotte and Raleigh. The Tar Heel State, however, is planning a commission study on adding online sports wagers.
Regulations are also still pending in Montana, which recently announced it would push the start of sports wagering there back until the end of the year. Supporters of legislation (HB 725) signed into law by Gov. Steve Bullock (D) in May had hoped to get the system – which will be managed by the state lottery – up and running by the start of the NFL season. That didn’t happen, and Bullock also vetoed another measure (SB 330) that would have allowed owners of sports taverns to host betting kiosks.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) allowed a bill (HB 1) to become law in May without his signature that is unique among sports betting laws. It will allow online sports betting, and because there are no casinos in the state, sports wagering there will only be online.
At least two other states may before long consider allowing online betting without a physical presence. A bill under consideration in Massachusetts (HB 377), home state of Boston-based DraftKings, would allow standalone casinos, but the legislation isn’t thought to be likely to pass anytime soon.
Maine, however, is much closer to that prospect. A bill passed by lawmakers in Augusta in June (SB 175) allows online betting companies to operate without a physical location. Gov. Janet Mills (D) didn’t sign it, but it doesn’t become law without her signature until January – and she could still veto it. The passed bill does have a tax incentive, however, to open a physical betting parlor.
In addition to New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania, states that currently have online sports betting actually taking bets include Iowa, Rhode Island and West Virginia. States with in-person betting only, in addition to New York, include Arkansas, Delaware, Mississippi and New Mexico. Indiana has brick-and-mortar betting, and its casinos will soon offer online wagers on sports.
Noticeably absent from the game right now? California, which would automatically become the nation’s largest gaming market. An effort to get a constitutional amendment before voters that would approve online sports betting failed in 2018, but a new effort – co-authored by Assemblymember Adam Gray (D) and Sen. Bill Dodd (D) – is underway. To get to voters this time around, lawmakers will need to endorse their new proposal (ACA 16) by at least 180 days before the Nov. 3, 2020 general election.
-- By SNCJ Correspondent Dave Royse
Caroline Black is a partner in the white-collar crime team at the London-based law firm Dechert LLP. She has worked on several large multi-jurisdictional anti-corruption and bribery cases and advised major companies on putting in place adequate compliance and due diligence procedures. Speaking to LexisNexis from Dechert’s slick, modern offices near Fleet Street, she tells us that legislation against bribery and corruption around the world is getting stronger, and regulators are more willing to take enforcement action against non-compliant companies.
Is anti-bribery and corruption regulation and legislation getting tougher?It is the case that around the world, there is a rise in enforcement actions and also legislation which is being passed to assist prosecutors to take action against breaches of anti-corruption standards. In terms of enforcement and regulation, we have seen a globalization of the fight against corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing. We have seen increasing numbers of coordinated corruption investigations in recent years such as the joint Rolls Royce Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) between the British, the Americans and the Brazilians, and Odebrecht between the Brazilians, the Americans, and the Swiss.
The trend for that global coordination will continue with the US and the UK playing lead roles but also increasingly with other jurisdictions being more fully involved in anti-corruption and anti-money laundering efforts.
Interestingly there is also a drive at the moment to give prosecutors more tools through the use of DPAs. DPAs were brought into force in the UK in 2014 but have recently been increasingly used by the SFO. Similar powers have been given to the authorities in France in the form of a CJIP, and there is similar legislation being passed in Canada, Australia, and Singapore.
What do DPAs mean for companies?
There is an increased awareness and desire by the authorities to prosecute companies for anti-corruption breaches. But the use of DPAs also show that prosecutors are thinking about how to incentivize companies to cooperate, to self-report and to be good corporate citizens. The DPA format provides the authorities with greater tools in their armoury to not only incentivize companies using a large stick but also with a carrot in the form of a DPA.
How do companies benefit from being ‘good corporate citizens’, as you put it?
The main benefit is the ability to really market yourself as a company which is ethical, that does business in the right way, and will hopefully attract more work from like-minded firms. Increasingly companies around the world are looking for ethical third parties to do business with. More companies are looking to ensure that the people they do business with are ethical, that they do business in the right way, and are not ultimately going to attribute liability back to them under the very wide anti-corruption laws which are in place.
What are some of the principles of a good due diligence process?
What is really key is having a risk-based approach as a starting point, because completing the same level of due diligence for every third party which a company might engage is unworkable and unmanageable, especially in a large business. But it is also essential that companies are properly identifying those third parties who are the highest risk to their business and ensuring these entities are thoroughly checked and managed.
Another important point is to ensure that reliance is not placed on only one source of information. Information should be sourced from the third party itself, from within the business (the managers and the sales force who proposed the particular third party). Information should be considered from sources available in the public domain or through public records searches and sanctions lists checks. Then depending on the assessment of the risks of the particular third-party consideration could be given to using a reputable due diligence firm or agent. Finally, a company could also make local in-country checks with the chamber of commerce and follow that up with references.
It is also vitally important to ensure that whomever is receiving that information within the company can understand it and ask appropriate follow-up questions, because one failing I’ve seen in the past in some of the companies that we have worked with is that compliance or legal may receive information about red flags that really warrant following up, but the people receiving it do not understand the significance.
How should firms use technology in this process?
Technology is an increasing part of business around the world and it should be part of any due diligence or compliance program. RegTech is really focusing on the use of automated systems and analytical techniques where suspicious transactions may be identified across a business through a big data sampling tool, so a lot more information can be processed than by any one individual. That being said, you still need an individual to review the findings and ensure that they understand the information coming out. But I think technology is useful to highlight red flags or issues which may occur within a company.
How else is technology being used in the field?
In the field of investigations, technology is also becoming much more accepted and more widely used by the authorities. For example, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office used technology-assisted reviews in the investigation leading to the DPA that was reached with Rolls Royce, so it is a much more acceptable standard to allow the review of a lot of data in the most efficient way possible.
How important is the leadership of a company to a successful anti-bribery and corruption program?
Tone from the top is absolutely essential. No anti-bribery, anti-money laundering or anti-financial crime system can work without the buy-in from senior management. I believe it is something the authorities will continue to want to see, from those companies who ultimately end up in trouble, but also more generally to demonstrate that you do business in the right way.
Increasingly, information is being made transparent by companies, including publishing policies, procedures and leadership steps taken by CEOs and other senior members of the board or executive management team. That transparency is not limited to bribery and corruption - with the new Gender Pay Gap reporting, Modern Slavery Act reporting and other initiatives, it’s something that will continue as companies push to transform the way that business is done. It’s important that leadership is seen to endorse that transparency across the board.
What advice would you give companies that come across evidence of financial crime?
If a company decides that there is substance to an allegation, it is very important for it to be seen to be reacting in the right way. One of the key first steps that we would advise our clients is to preserve and secure evidence including paper documents and e-data and the various sources of other information that may exist. Companies should then consider whether there is an issue which could lead to a large enforcement action and which authorities may have jurisdiction as different standards may apply.
To have any chance of persuading the authorities in the UK that a company is qualified to receive an invitation to participate in a DPA, there has to be early reporting, consultation, and cooperation. This practice has become apparent from the recent DPA case law in the UK. The most striking example is Rolls Royce where a large fine of nearly £500m was levied against the company. Notably the agreement made it clear that this was a 50% discount on the penalty which it could have expected had the company not gone into the cooperative process. So, it really is financially important for companies to consider cooperation early on in the process.
It is also beneficial for a company’s corporate compliance image to be able to say, “yes we are reviewing this issue, we’ve reported it to the authorities, we are cleaning up our internal processes, we have taken disciplinary action and we have removed those wrongdoers”. This enables the entity to try to manage the process as best it can while also providing positive messaging to the market and any shareholders that the problem is historical and under control.
How can this transparency approach help during an investigation?
What the authorities are really looking for is transparency and cooperation and to approach and deal with the authorities in a way that is respectful and open. Any attempts to cherry-pick or hide specific behaviour or protect individuals is not something the authorities will want to see from a cooperating company. So, I think transparency, disclosure and cooperation are really the cornerstones of the process.
Even outside of an investigation process, transparency is what the authorities want to see. They are looking for commitment to ethical behaviour, to ensuring that reports are made through relevant money-laundering systems if required, proper disclosures to the markets, proper reaction to an adverse event that might happen within a business, and other step such as publishing gifts and entertainment registers and policies on the company’s website. Companies must demonstrate that ethical business is not just a statement that is made, it really is lived within the organization.
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In spite of screeching from some quarters, America is now and always has been built on diversity. And as the personal finance site WalletHub reports, based on a wide range of measurements no state is more diverse than California. This is likely not a surprise to anyone, but the runner-up might be. Yep, nipping right at the Golden State’s heels is none other than Texas, a state some folks might see as homogenous as it gets. Alas, like many stories we tell ourselves there’s no truth to that one at all. The Lone Star State in fact came in only a few hundredths of a point behind California in the measurements, and it boasts the most diverse city in America, Houston. Remember that the next time you hear politicos from either state flapping their gums about, well, anything.
-- By RICH EHISEN
If you kill it, you must grill it! Well, not quite yet but maybe in the future. As CalMatters reports, California lawmakers endorsed a bill last week intended to pave the way for folks to harvest critters smushed on Golden State highways. The bill originally would have legalized scraping up deer, elk and wild pigs statewide, but was eventually amended down to a seven-year pilot program in three to-be-determined communities where wildlife officials think it will do the most good. There was no real opposition, but this being California I’m sure there’s a squirrel lobbyist out there screaming about their clients being cut out of the loop. So to speak.
Illinois state Rep. Jaime Andrade is tired of all the mess pigeons make at the Irving Park Blue Line train station in Chicago. Admittedly, some problems are harder to see than others. Uh, not this one. While talking about the issue to TV reporters last week, a pigeon did what pigeons do – right on Andrade’s head. He took it in stride, saying “That’s what happens to my constituents. They get s**t on all time.”
The legacy of the speech then-Vice President Richard Nixon gave on Sept. 23rd 1952 is pretty profound. Accused of campaign improprieties, Nixon took to the airwaves to defend himself. Over the course of 30 minutes he showed his profound ability to spread BS with the best of them, highlighted by his admission that he had indeed accepted an illicit gift – a black and white Cocker Spaniel his daughter had named “Checkers” – which he emphatically stated he had no intention of giving back. The speech saved Nixon’s career, eventually becoming known as “the Checkers speech.” It also spawned National Dogs in Politics Day, appropriate given that pooches are a staple of presidential life. Or they were. The current POTUS is in fact the first president to not have a dog since Woodrow Wilson, and the first with no pets at all since Chester Arthur. Unless of course you count Mike Pence.